


Decommissioned But I'm Still Here

by mielipieli



Category: Star Wars: Rebels, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fix-It, Gen, Post-Order 66, Wolffe and bly exist for 5 sentences, tho Order 66 did def happen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:53:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24390856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mielipieli/pseuds/mielipieli
Summary: Cody had been Cody again for a month when the decommissioning of all remaining clones was ordered.
Relationships: CC-2224 | Cody & CT-7567 | Rex
Comments: 6
Kudos: 125





	Decommissioned But I'm Still Here

Cody had been Cody again for a month when the decommissioning of all remaining clones was ordered. 

“What are your orders?”, Boil asked (he was quite distinctly not Boil but Cody couldn’t get himself to call him by any other name - at least in the sanctity of his own head), the datapad with the new orders still in his hand.

Cody looked at him: “Reporting to Hangar 3 at 0600 hours. What are yours?”

“Hangar 5 at 0900.” Boil glanced at the other troopers around them - checking for nat-borns. “They’re really going to decommission us, aren’t they?” There was a hint of fear in his voice that was usually so emotionless and a desperation in his eyes. 

Cody looked away. He didn’t know if he’d be able to save himself and he couldn’t look into Boil’s eyes knowing he  _ definitely  _ wouldn’t be able to save anyone else. “We’ve outlived our usefulness, Sergeant.”

Boil didn’t say anything to that. Maybe Cody should have said something hopeful, cheered Boil up. But Cody had never been particularly good at cheering people up. He tended to be blunt and honest, although he’d always made sure that he didn’t cross over the line to ‘unkind’. Bly and Ponds had been the gentle ones in their batch.

Cody spotted Wooley walking into the room, his own datapad clutched tightly in his right hand: “What are your new orders, Private?” (It was always Private and Sergeant, because Cody couldn’t call a  _ vod  _ whose name he knew by their number. Not when there was any other choice.)

“Hangar 5 at 0900 hours”, Wooley said, his eyes darting around the room. He looked as lost as he had back on Ryloth - his first ever actual combat experience. His eyes found Cody at some point, latching onto him. There was a desperate hope there and Cody looked back for a moment too long.

Kriff, Cody  _ had _ to find a way to get them out. He couldn’t just let them walk willingly to their deaths. (He’d known it the moment he’d heard of the generalized order for decommissioning of all clones, if he was being honest with himself. His sense for self preservation had always been a bit underdeveloped, Wolffe had always said when Cody had landed himself in the medbay on joint missions. As if Wolffe was any better.)

* * *

Cody slipped out of the barracks at 0100 hours when all breathing was regular. He put on Wooley’s armor in the nearby armory - no distinguishing features and a Private was more easily ignored than a Commander, and went to find the nearest comm terminal. 

He logged in with the codes of a fellow Commander - a nat-born who tended to forget anyone else was in the room when it was a clone. If one of  _ his _ men had been so careless with their security codes as to let others see them, they’d have been on KP duty for a month.

The first thing Cody did, was to check the orders that had gone out to all  _ vode _ on the ship. All of them were the same. Hangar 5 at 0900 hours. All of them except for his own. Every instinct in Cody’s body was screaming that something was terribly wrong. He pushed it away. That was a problem for later. 

All transports in Hangar 5 were going to Kamino, scheduled to arrive at 1600 hours. That wasn’t a lot of time for anyone to intercept them. And someone would  _ have  _ to intercept them because none of the chipped  _ vode _ were going to get themselves out. And Cody wouldn’t be there to help.  _ Kark. _

Cody was just about ready to cry. The only people he knew would have helped him were either Jedi or clones, dead or chipped. Maybe one of the Senators who used to have their backs would help? Amidala was dead. Organa worked with the Empire, but Cody could hope that he had at least some Resistance contacts. But if Organa didn’t know about the chips, he would be convinced that the 212th had killed Obi-Wan of their own volition. 

It didn’t really matter. Organa was his best chance. His only chance. He didn’t really have any contacts outside of the Empire. He went to work writing a message:

_ To Senator Organa: _

_ The mass decommissioning of all clones was just ordered, to be executed on Kamino. I don’t know whether you’re still sympathetic to our causes but I hope you will find a way to save at least some of my vode. Three Troop Transports will leave our current position at 1000 hours. I have attached the planned route. _

_ Commander Rako _

Cody hoped the Senator would understand the reference but he’d always shown himself to be a smart man. He hoped that the Senator would tell the Rebel Alliance and he hoped that the Rebel Alliance would actually save his  _ vode. _ It was a long shot. But it was all he could do. 

* * *

Cody’s orders, as it turned out, were not for him to be decommissioned but instead a transfer to some secret project. He didn’t have clearance for anything to do with the actual project. He was just a security officer with nothing to do. He also didn’t have any opportunities to get away from the Empire: There was no contact to the outside world except for a couple of supply runs a month, which he was never assigned to. 

His life was boring and aggravating - there was constant hassling from the nat-borns. That had been the case before but back then he’d actually been able to sit with  _ vode _ unlike now. He spent his days standing in the back of a room, hoping he might overhear something important, something that could get him out of here or something that would justify him messaging Organa again - not that he knew whether the first time had done anything. Instead, he stood and waited.

A year passed before the secret project was declared operational and Cody was demoted to Lieutenant, so that a nat-born could take command of the security force. Within days they’d destroyed what Cody assumed to be a Rebel craft and captured another. 

“They say the Bridger kid’s a Jedi”, Sergeant Fawn said as he walked past Cody.

Private Pavel looked at Cody: “Be careful saying that or the clone might just kill him.”

Fawn laughed, turning around to look at Cody, too. Cody suppressed the urge to punch him. He was their  _ kriffing _ superior officer and they talked about him like he was a monkey that had been taught to dance. “The Captain’s sure of it, though. Says his friend fought him and his Master a while back and only barely made it out.”   
  


“The Jedi are dead, Sergeant. I think the Captain’s just pulling your leg.”

“I guess”, Fawn shrugged. “It’s above our paygrade, anyway.”

Whatever Pavel may believe, Cody was sure the Captain wasn’t joking. Firstly, he didn’t actually have a sense of humour. Secondly, he hated the Jedi with a burning passion and if he suddenly  _ did _ develop a sense of humour, it definitely wouldn’t be about the Jedi. 

Cody waited until a door closed behind Pavel and Fawn. Then, he started making his way to the detention blocks. No one stopped him to question what he was doing away from his post. He was a clone. He followed orders. You wouldn’t question whether a droid was where it was supposed to be, would you?

The cell that was supposed to hold Ezra Bridger was suspiciously empty and guarded by no one. That had to mean the kid was already escaping. Cody heard the sound of shots being fired and two people in armor going down just around the corner. The moment Cody saw the kid, everything went black.

* * *

He came to being dragged back toward the cells. He was still dizzy, his muscles weren’t cooperating and his HUD wasn’t working, so he couldn’t see anything and that couldn’t be a good sign.

“Everyone will know I’ve escaped in a couple of minutes, anyway. Why do we need to hide him, Rex?”, someone said. 

Cody’s entire body stiffened. “Rex?”, he asked but it came out completely incomprehensible. 

“He’s coming to, Ezra. That’s why you don’t stun.” That voice was undeniably a brother.

“Rex”, Cody tried again. “That you?”

He was dropped in - what he hoped to be - shock. Something collided with the floor right next to his head - knees, maybe? - and he felt someone struggling to pull off his helmet with shaking hands: “That’s a brother”, the  _ vod _ ’s (maybe Rex’s) voice said. Cody’s helmet came loose and he stared into the face of a brother with a white beard and a scar at his temple. “Cody”, there was almost no sound to his name being said. “You’re alive.”

Cody was pulled up into a  _ Keldabe Kiss _ . “Rex?”, he asked, just to be sure. Because they were so much older now and Rex was  _ bald _ \- he was going to get some mileage out of that but later - and his hair had always been his identifying feature.

“Yeah, Cody. It’s me”, Rex said. 

Cody gave himself and Rex a few more seconds, then: “We should probably get going.”

Rex pulled back slowly, more slowly than he would have fifteen years ago: “Cody, this is Ezra and Kanan. Kanan, Ezra, this is Cody.” He gestured back and forth. “Do you know a safe route to where the other Rebels are being kept?”

Cody pulled his helmet back on and got up. It took him a moment to get his bearings - the stun gun had really done a number on him - he was still dizzy and a stun gun  _ really  _ shouldn’t do that - and when he did, all eyes were on him. 

“You okay, Cody?”, Rex asked. 

“I’m fine”, Cody said. “Detention block’s on Deck B17. One up and over. There’s a shortcut we can use.”

Rex nodded, although he clearly didn’t believe that Cody was fine: “Lead the way.”

They were halfway there when an all-too-familiar chorus started up in his head and his fingers began tightening around the blaster. Cody forced himself to stop moving. It was hard,  _ so hard _ , because his muscles wanted to tense, wanted to attack. Cody very deliberately let go of his blaster. The sound of it clattering against the floor was too loud.

“Cody?”, Rex asked. He sounded unsure of himself, maybe even a bit scared.

It took all of Cody’s energy to keep his body still.

Rex’s face appeared in his line of vision, his brows furrowed in concern: “What’s going on, Cody?”

“The chip”, Cody got out.

Rex’s foot slid the blaster over to Kanan, who stood stockstill: “It’s trying to make you attack Kanan and Ezra?”   
  


Cody nodded. 

“Okay”, Rex said softly as if talking to an injured animal. “I’m going to stun you. We’ll get everyone out safely, okay?”

Cody’s hands were shaking. He nodded again. 

“Ezra”, Rex said and then everything went black. 

* * *

Cody drifted in and out of awareness throughout their escape. He was slung over Rex’s shoulder until he suddenly wasn’t anymore. Whenever he became more aware of his surroundings, he felt himself say something and then there would be a blaster pushed into his side and he would be stunned once more. He woke up on a transport, his hands cuffed behind his back, his movement restricted by a seatbelt. 

Someone pulled his helmet off. “We have you, sir”, a  _ vod _ ’s voice said. It wasn’t Rex’s (Rex wouldn’t have called him ‘sir’ anyway.

Cody made the effort to raise his head from where it was resting on his chest. He would have recognized that mustache anywhere: “Boil… They got you.” He could feel the smile pulling at his lips.

Boil smiled back: “Thanks to you.” 

Kanan and Rex walked into the transport then and the sight of the Jedi made the chip go into overdrive again. Cody felt his body pushing against the seatbelt. There were hands on his shoulders and Boil’s calm voice telling him that the chip would be out in less than a day. Cody pushed against the chip’s control and blacked out. 

* * *

He woke up in a medbay, feeling much better than he should have considering he’d probably just had brain surgery. He suspected painkillers. It was quiet except for the steady beeping of a heart rate monitor that was probably connected to him. The smell of disinfectant hung in the air and the walls were the sterile white Cody had come to expect from a medbay. Cody let out a huff of air.

“Commander!”, someone called from his left, presumably just noticing that Cody was awake. “The others just went to the mess. I offered to keep you company while they were gone.”

Cody looked to the source of the voice and felt himself smile: “It’s good to see you again, Wooley.”

“You, too, Sir.” He paused for a moment, then: “I should go get the Doc. He said to get him when you were awake.” Wooley got up and gripped Cody’s shoulder for a moment before hurrying off somewhere out of Cody’s field of vision. 

The Doc was a nat-born humanoid, who looked about as old as Cody did. He had gentle hands and explained the tests he ran with a calm voice. Wooley sat on a chair at Cody’s side the entire time, ‘accidentally’ brushing his arm every couple of minutes. 

When the Doc cleared Cody to leave the medbay, - although he was to eat and drink and then go straight to bed - Wooley handed him a stack of clothes and, when Cody had changed, took him by the arm to lead him to the mess. 

It was Rex, Wolffe, Bly and Boil they found sitting around a table there. Cody spent the meal - dinner? lunch? breakfast? - feeling completely disconnected from reality. Even with Bly and Wolffe pressing close to him, which was very like Bly and very unlike Wolffe, everything felt unreal. He couldn’t quite reconcile this with the complete isolation of the last year. 

He was tired and there was way too much information and the whole galaxy had gone to  _ osik  _ but Cody could also feel some genuine happiness creep in for the first time in a long time. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> vod - brother  
> Keldabe Kiss - pushing your foreheads together  
> Osik - dung (impolite)
> 
> I do have like a plan for why Cody wasn't decommissioned and instead transferred but I kinda didn't feel like continuing. Maybe I will at a later time. For now, feel free to guess in the comments. I may even tell you if you're right.


End file.
